A Reason to Keep Going
by RayvnAshes2
Summary: Hayden, age 6, is lost in a forest after escaping her uncle. Starving and injured, she's transported via magic circle to the Fairy Tail guild hall, where she finally gets the family that she's always craved and learns a different kind of magic. Rated T, fem!Harry, pairings undecided for the most part, and possible yaoi/yuri in later chapters.
1. Running Away

**Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter or Fairy Tail.**

**Enjoy!**

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"GIRL!" a booming voice shouted, almost shaking the house down to its foundations.

A small girl, no older than five years old, curled up in a fetal position, ears covered with her tiny hands in an attempt to make everything go quiet again. Why couldn't Vernon speak at a normal volume?

Moments later, the girl squinted as a dim light (though still too bright for her) intruded her cupboard. It took a second for her eyes to adjust, and once they did she looked up, shaking a bit, to see that her 'uncle' had opened her cupboard and was snarling at her maliciously. She took her hands away from her ears, knowing that not listening to the man would only make whatever he was going to punish her for (why else would he bother with her?) worse.

The man didn't say a thing, however, and the little girl made a noise of surprise when she found herself being grabbed around her shoulder and yanked out of her little 'safe' haven. Vernon started mumbling incoherently, and the little girl's fear grew worse as he dragged her out of the house and shoved her into the car. An hour later, Vernon pulled the car over to the side of the road and got out. He looked around for a moment, and was satisfied to see nothing but woods around them. He yelled for the girl to get out, and she did, trembling. He jerked his head towards the trees and began walking, not looking at the girl but expecting her to follow.

The little girl, Hayden (as her aunt had let slip once), bit her lip, terrified. Was her uncle finally going to do what she feared he would and kill her? Nothing good could come of this, she knew, and so…

She ran into the forest in the opposite direction, ignoring the man's shouting from behind her.

Hayden gasped for breath, having run for her life when she saw a hunter in the woods near where she had been resting. She had been in the woods for three days, and had taken to eating roots and bark to keep herself from starving to death. Luckily she had found a stream to get the dirt off, first.

Unfortunately, five year old girls (or any human, really), couldn't survive on that kind of sustenance for very long, and Hayden's energy levels had been steadily declining since the night she ran away from her uncle. If she didn't find food soon, then she'd never be able to make it.

That night, if one were to look, they would see a little girl collapsed on the ground, exhausted and starved. They would also see a strange bright light, and a flash before it disappeared, taking the girl with it.

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**Hope you liked it! I'll post the next chapter or two tomorrow, based on reviews! *wink***


	2. Arrival at Fairy Tail

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Fairy Tail.**

**Okay, apologize for not getting this up as quickly as I said I would. For some reason my internet connection was on the fritz for the last few days, and before that, I realized right after I posted the first chapter that I had somehow managed to delete the second, which I had written already. I know. *Face-palm*. So I had to re-write it. I do have the third chapter written, and I'll probably post it either tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on reviews ('please update soon' isn't exactly motivating my dear readers).**

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Located in the country of Fiore, in a country where magic is a common feature in daily life, there are some people who dedicate their lives to magic. These 'wizards' form guilds, expanding their power and knowledge. One of these guilds stands above all the rest, creating legends, and it shall likely continue to do so for many years to come. This guild is called _Fairy Tail._

Their part in this story begins on a day like any other. Many of the guild's members are in the guild hall, business going on as usual. Two boys, one with pink hair and the other with blue, lie on the floor, groaning in pain as they try to recover from the force that had just ended their fight. An older girl, Erza Scarlet (named for her hair), is responsible, scolding the two as she shakes her head in annoyance. She ends up in an argument with a white-haired girl called Mirajane, and as they begin insulting each other the others in the guild look on, shaking their heads.

The two previously fighting boys scowl in annoyance. Erza would hurt them if they fought and weren't 'best friends', but her rivalry with the demon Mira was acceptable? What a hypocrite.

The guild master, Makarov, came downstairs, intending to end the girls' fight before they destroyed the entire building. He was about to say something, when suddenly a bright light engulfed the hall, blinding the members temporarily. When the light receded, they all opened their eyes to see what had caused it, and were shocked.

A young girl was on one of the tables, where she definitely hadn't been before. She had long black hair, and wore dirty, worn clothing. She was very thin, and seemed to be getting paler by the second.

"Erza." Makarov said, pulling himself out of his shock. Obviously, this girl, whoever she was, needed help.

"Yes, Master?" the redhead asked, still staring at the girl who looked to be much younger than her.

"Go retrieve Porlyusica. Explain as best you can what just happened." He replied. She ran off, not needing to be told to hurry.

"Macao, Wakaba, go get as many blankets as you can find." The master continued. The aforementioned men went off to do just that. 'It's probably best not to move her, but she should be comfortable.' He thought, before noticing the younger generation in the guild moving slowly towards the girl.

They all froze when the girl moved, shivering as the cold winter air hit her. Natsu, the pink haired boy, hesitantly stepped towards her. Makarov was about to stop him, until he saw the boy's aura flare, his fire magic radiating heat from his body, not hot enough to harm the girl, but enough to keep her warm. He watched, tears starting to form, as the rambunctious brat sat down quietly on a chair next to her, the girl's shivering already starting to stop.

"She's going to need something to eat. Something light." Mirajane said suddenly, eying the girl's frail and thin figure. With that, she and her little sister Lisanna went to the kitchen to prepare something.

A moment later, the two men arrived with as many blankets as they could carry. Natsu picked the girl up as the two arranged a makeshift bed for her on the table, setting her down when they were done.

That seemed to spurn the others into action. Cana took a comb out of her little bag, gently brushing the girl's hair, untangling the knots and doing her best not to rouse her from her unconscious state. Levy sat next to the girl on her other side, and began reading to her from the book she'd been reading before the girl appeared. Natsu stayed where he was on her opposite side, keeping the girl warm and, though he wouldn't admit it, listening to the story the blunette was reading aloud. Gray went to retrieve a pail of warm water, and when he brought it back, both he and Natsu worked together to wash away the dirt on the girl's arms, hands, and face.

Makarov watched this all with a smile, loving how his guild was taking care of the new girl without being prompted to do so. It wasn't the strength of their magic that made their guild so special, but their kind and caring hearts.

In the back of his mind, however, he wondered how that bright light had brought her to them.

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**Reviews?**

**Oh! I received a comment asking me not to put Hayden with Natsu from the get-go, give her a chance to meet other guys and all that. If it was anyone else (character-wise, not the reviewer), I would agree completely. However, Hayden (even Harry in the series) is more the type to just fall in love and stay in love with the same person for the rest of her life. Now, I don't like the Harry/Ginny pairing, but whatever. That's not to say that Hayden and Natsu won't be oblivious or that there aren't going to be other people crushing on them, and who says they're getting together right away? Natsu's about 7 or 8 right now, and Hayden's a bit younger than that.**


	3. Magic is Real?

**Sorry I'm a couple hours late, I forgot.**

**Anyway! I don't own Harry Potter or Fairy Tail.**

**Shout out to bunnymage, thanks for letting me bounce my ideas off of you and offering some of your own. As your ideas come to fruition, I shall give credit accordingly. :)  
**

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"This girl is lucky to be alive." Porlyusica murmured to Makarov, who grimaced. "She is too small for her age, I believe her to be around six and a half years old, maybe seven-"

"She doesn't look older than five." Makarov muttered, eyes dimming as he thought about what might have led the girl to be in this condition.

"Yes." Porlyusica said shortly, not appreciating the interruption. "She is malnourished, and likely hasn't eaten very much in the last week besides the broth. Her body temperature was also declining dangerously, and had it not been for the boy's quick solution she might have fallen ill with fever or hypothermia."

"Good. Can we do anything to…heal…the malnourishment?" he inquired.

"Besides making sure that she consumes as much food as a normal child her age should?" Porlyusica said bitterly. "Make sure that it's healthy. I'll give her a tonic that should help make up for the lack of vitamins. Her skin, teeth, and bones should become healthier after a time."

"Something is wrong with her bones?" Makarov asked nervously.

"Yes. They're a bit too brittle, and will be easier to break if something isn't done about them." The healer answered. "Aside from that, have her take it easy physically for a while."

"And, if she happens to have magic?" Makarov asked with an eyebrow raised.

"In her current condition, if she does do magic, suppressing it would be more harmful than letting it out." She admitted reluctantly. "When she arrived, I noticed that she already had a magic suppressant, which I removed so that it wouldn't interfere with her healing. She will likely have more than one bout of uncontrollable magic in the next few months."

"Who would do that to a child?" the old man asked, trying to contain his anger. Suppressing a person's magic could easily kill them, and to do such a thing to a _child…_

"I do not know." Porlyusica answered calmly, though she was internally seething. This was why she _hated_ humans. "I could, however, sense that there were no familial ties between the girl and the one who put the seal on her magic." Makarov's eyes narrowed in anger.

There was only one possible reason that suppressing a person's magic was in any way acceptable by _any_ mage, whether they were from a legal or dark guild. Sometimes a child's magic could do them harm, either due to the kind they wielded, or the power, and the parents would put a mild dampener on the child until they grew up enough to wield it without being a danger to themselves or others.

However, that apparently wasn't the case here. Porlyusica told him that the seal had been placed on the girl about five years ago. The girl couldn't have been even two at the time, and even if the parents had wanted the seal put on her, keeping it on for so long could easily destroy both her mind and her grasp on her magic.

If he ever found out who had done such a despicable thing to an innocent child, he would do everything in his power to make sure that they were _punished_ accordingly. He could ask Laki (sadistic even at such a young age) for some ideas, too…

He was brought out of his musings by a tiny whimper, and he turned in the direction that it came from. He examined the girl closely, not even considering the fact that Porlyusica might have been the one to make the noise.

The tiny girl's finger twitched, and suddenly her eyes shot open and she sat up with a gasp. She bit back a cry of pain, clutching her newly bandaged wounds, as she looked around the guild hall's infirmary wildly.

"Calm, child." Porlyusica said softly, attracting the small girl's attention. Both Porlyusica and the guild master were struck by how bright the child's green eyes were. Makarov privately bet to himself that the girl would eventually be a real heart-breaker. "You are safe now. We will not hurt you."

"Who are you?" the child inquired softly, fearfully. "Where am I?"

"My name is Porlyusica." The old woman responded. "I am a healer. This old coot here is a friend of mine. His name is Makarov. You are in the Fairy Tail guild's building, in the infirmary."

"A healer?" the child blinked, turning her attention to the bandages scattered in various places on her body. "Oh. Thank you. I'm sorry to be an in-inconvenience." She stumbled over the word a bit, too young to be able to pronounce it very easily.

"You are not inconvenient, child." Makarov responded carefully, making sure not to let any of the anger he was feeling be heard. From the girl's reaction, she had been neglected by her previous guardians, if not abused.

The girl didn't know what to say to that. Her aunt and uncle had always hated the fact that they were stuck taking care of her, and always made sure that she was well aware of that. To hear that not everyone thought of her as such (as the little old man hadn't seemed to be lying) was a bit overwhelming for her.

The two adults watched her, concerned, as she blinked away tears. She couldn't show such a weakness in front of these wonderfully kind people. Tears always got her in even more trouble with her aunt, though Vernon seemed to thrive on them.

"What's a guild?" the little girl asked curiously, thinking back to Healer Porlyusica's answer of where she was.

"A guild is a group formed by mages, to help them make a living, get stronger, and become the person they were meant to become." Makarov kept it shorter than he usually would, as he noticed that the girl looked like she would fall back asleep at any moment.

"A…mage?" the girl was confused.

"A mage, also known as a wizard, is a human being with the ability to use magic." Makarov explained, wondering how the girl couldn't know that already. Then again, she might have been brought here from a place without magic. No, that didn't make sense. The girl had magic, and so did whoever put the seal on her.

"Magic?" the girl suddenly got wide-eyed. "But…magic isn't real. My aunt and uncle said so." Well, from that they could guess that her parents were out of the picture.

"It is, child." Porlyusica said. "We have it, and so do you. Have you ever found yourself being able to do something that you couldn't explain? Perhaps when you were sad, or scared?"

The girl bit her lip thoughtfully, pondering the question.

"Well…a few things might have happened." The girl said. "Once, when I was running from my cousin and his gang of bullies, I tried hiding behind something, and I ended up on the roof. I don't know how."

"Your magic must have reacted to your wish to get away from those chasing you." Makarov told the child gently. After a moment, the girl's face brightened considerably.

"Could I do more magic?" she asked excitedly.

"You could learn. There are many different styles of magic, though most of them take a while to get very good at." Makarov explained to the child.

"And…could I find a teacher at one of those mage 'guilds'?" the girl asked.

"Possibly, depending on what type of magic you wish to learn." Makarov agreed. "I run a magical guild, myself. We wouldn't mind having another member to add to our family."

"Family?" the girl said wistfully. "That sounds really nice. Are you sure that I could join?"

"We would love to have you. When we found you, everyone in the guild was worried, hoping that you would be okay, and they hadn't even met you yet." Makarov answered, smiling a bit sadly at the child. Family was something that everyone should have happy memories of. "Oh! Heavens, I forgot to ask your name."

"It's Hayden." The newly-named girl answered shyly as she ducked her head, black hair falling to hide her face. After a moment, she looked up. "Just Hayden."

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**Reviews! I need them. I need them or I will explode. That happens to me sometimes. (INVADER ZIM reference!)**


	4. Making Friends

**Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or Fairy Tail.**

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"Why is she so quiet?" Gray muttered quietly, glancing at the new girl. He blushed as he remembered thinking that she was pretty. After she had regained consciousness and got back from Porlyusica's, at least.

"We all saw how she got here, Gray." Cana said, rolling her eyes at him before looking at the girl with a sympathetic glance. "Master told us that she was brought her from some other _world_. That's a lot to take in, and she's only been here for a few days."

"Give her a chance to adjust." Levy agreed, glancing at Gray from behind her book. "Still…" With that, she caught Cana and Lisanna's eyes, nodding in the direction of the new girl ever so slightly.

She got up, tucking her book under her arm, as she went to sit with the new girl, Hayden. A moment later she was joined by Cana and Lisanna.

"Hello." She greeted the girl with a warm smile, to which the girl returned nervously. "My name is Levy."

"I'm Lisanna, and she's Cana." Lisanna said, motioning to the other girl as her name came up.

"Hayden. It's nice to meet you." The girl responded, eyes brightening a bit.

"So, how do you like Fairy Tail so far?" Cana asked curiously.

"This place is wonderful!" Hayden said with a gasp of awe, before she blushed slightly, embarrassed. "It's so different than what I'm used to."

"What was the world that you came from like?" Levy asked, ever the inquisitive one. Hayden bit her lip, pondering the question.

"Well, I suppose magic exists in that world, since apparently I have it." She mused. "But I think the people who can use magic are hidden away from everyone else. Porlyusica told me that my parents were mages, but they died when I was a baby. After that, I lived with my aunt and uncle, who really didn't like even hearing about magic, or anything they didn't think was normal."

"That must have been hard." Lisanna said sympathetically. "My parents died when I was little, too. My brother, Elfman, and my sister, Mira, take care of me."

"My mom died a few years ago." Cana added. "And my dad…doesn't know I exist. My mom left him before I was born." She was startled that she had actually just told someone that, much less a stranger, but she doubted any of these girls would tell anyone or judge her for it."

"My parents are researchers." Levy spoke up, feeling a bit guilty. Her parents were still alive, while her friends' weren't. "They're in Egypt on a job, but they couldn't bring me with them, so I came here with their permission."

"Egypt?" Hayden asked, perking up. "There's a place called Egypt where I come from, too."

"Really?" Lisanna asked, surprised. "What do you know about it?"

"It's supposed to be really hot, and there's a huge 'sea' of sand for as far as the eye can see!" Hayden responded, remembering how she heard one of her aunt's friends say that after going there for work. "I've never been there, but it sounded pretty cool. There are pyramids, where old pharaohs are buried when the die, and tombs riddled with traps. Well, that's what I was told, anyway." She said sheepishly, kind of embarrassed again.

All three of the other girls' eyes were wide.

"That sounds a lot like this world's Egypt!" Levy said, full of awe. "I wonder how many similarities your world has to ours."

Hayden shrugged, not really having a clue. She'd spent a good part of her time in a cupboard, and she wasn't allowed to watch the telly unless it was in class. "There are these things called cars, which are a lot like the things people here drive. Master Makarov told me they're powered by magic power?" The girls nodded. "In my world, they're powered by something called fuel. I'm not really sure what it is, only that it's brought up from the ground and it smells bad." She wrinkled her nose, and the others laughed.

Eventually, the conversation moved on to magic. Hayden was in awe when she saw Lisanna suddenly turn into a purple bunny, and she squealed in surprise when Cana and Levy demonstrated their card and solid script magic respectively.

"What kind of magic do you want to learn?" Lisanna asked, blue eyes curious.

"Well…I don't really know." Hayden mumbled, glancing up at them. "Your magic abilities and Master Makarov's are the only ones I've really seen up close. I don't know what anyone else here uses."

"Well, we can help with that!" Levy chirped, turning around on the stool to face the rest of the guild hall. "Let's see…" her eyes wandered around the room before she spotted someone. "There's Reedus! He uses Pict magic, where he can bring his drawings to life! He was really skinny, but he asked Master to use Titan magic to expand his torso so that he can use himself as a canvas."

"Woah!" Hayden said, wide-eyed. Bringing drawings to life sounded amazing!

"And there's Elfman and Mira!" Lisanna said, pointing to her siblings. "Elfman uses Beast Take Over, and Mira uses a few different kinds of Transformation magic, including Demon Take Over." She was about to say more, but Mira got into a fight with Erza, so she moved on.

"The redhead is Erza." Cana continued. "She uses Requip magic. Basically, she stores things in her own little pocket dimension and can bring them out at will." Hayden perked up a bit at that. She could have used that power to get food when she lived with the Dursleys.

"There's Natsu and Gray, too." Lisanna motioned to the two boys, whose fight had instigated the one between Mirajane and Erza.

"Natsu uses Fire Dragon Slayer magic." She muttered. "He was apparently raised by a dragon, before the dragon had to leave and Natsu came here. Gray uses Ice-Make magic. He's pretty good at making weapons with it."

Hayden looked amazed that apparently the pink-haired boy had been raised by a dragon, but shook it off. So many interesting types of magic, and those were only the people in the guild hall right at that moment!

What should she choose?

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**Review please!**

**And I've already decided what magic style(s) Hayden will learn, so her question at the end was rhetorical. ;)**


	5. POLL! NOT A CHAPTER!

**AN: NOT A CHAPTER! Just a poll!**

**WizardShinobi: As for it being too early to have already determined who I'm going to pair Hayden with…yeah, I think I agree with that, I shouldn't have bothered. As for putting up a poll to decide who she might be with later on, I'll start that now and in a few chapters it will end. That's not to say that I'll go with that pairing, I will just take it into consideration.**

**bunnymage: I still have all of the pairings we were talking about in mind, especially for Hermione and Luna. Just thought I'd give another guy a chance at Hayden's heart. **

**So! Everyone else: who do you want to see Hayden with? Gajeel is off-limits, because I like him with Levy, and Laxus is unlikely because I like him with Lucy. Or Ron, because I don't like him. Anyone else is fair game, for the most part.**

**Suggestions: Zeref, Gray, Mystogan, Bickslow, Natsu, someone from the HP universe...**


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